Thursday, April 17, 2008

Bird bath?

The Kyoto sunbed designed by Wolf Udo Wagner for garden furniture manufacturer Fischer Moebel is made from foam which is coated with polyurethane.

Its an interesting and quite attractive product but the element that particularly stood out to me was its unsuitability to the task. One of the key features of the form is the depression in the foreground, an idea spot for water to pool, yet there appears to be no provision for drainage. Hopefully this small, though crucial, detail is included by the time it reaches production otherwise the user will need to remember to move their sunbed into the shade.

Maybe this is an illustration of the differences between a furniture designer and an industrial designer...?